A Series of Unfortunate Events: Enemy Among Us
by TheBrightestNight
Summary: Dear Reader, This is not going to be a very enjoyable story at all. In these pages are recounts of painful memories and scarring events that are Luke Castellan's first five years at Camp Half-Blood, as he battles the monsters within. –Ariadne Blackwood
1. One

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**A/N: So, this is the next "book" in A Series of Unfortunate Events (not by Lemony Snicket), the first one being When it Rains. It won't be too long, but it really all depends on how much material I can work with/how much I can come up with.**

**Recap: I'm writing a series of unfortunate events that was Luke's life from the day May decided to become the Oracle to the day Luke sacrifices himself to the save the world. The one you're currently reading takes place through the five years he spends at Camp Half-Blood before Percy shows up.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

_Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win. ~ Stephen King_

άλφα—Alpha

The first three years at Camp Half-Blood weren't horrible, but they weren't the best of Luke's life in the slightest. In fact they were probably the worst three years of his entire life, even compared to growing up on the street, on the run from monsters. At least he had had Thalia and Annabeth later.

Now Thalia was gone, the girl he thought he loved, _still_ loved. She was forever a pine tree, a horrible fate, worse than death. How could Zeus have done that to her? How could he have been so cruel?

_Because __he__'__s __a __god, __he__'__s __the __god __of __the __gods,_ a voice whispered. It was true, he was a god and none of the gods really cared about their children. Courting someone and then ditching them as soon as the child is born, never to see or hear from them again, not even after they've found out that they're a half-blood. Not even after they've found out that their lives will be lived with danger and death at their doorstep until their fateful day comes.

It had taken a while for Annabeth to cope with Thalia's "death". It was a long time before talk of her story finally died down and Luke and Annabeth could finally rest from the questions and telling and retelling their "adventures", if you could call them that. But Luke was by her side the entire time. Of course Annabeth was a strong, wise girl, but she was only seven then, she needed support and stability in her life.

Now their bond had grown stronger and they'd grown closer. They were practically brother and sister.

Luke still hated the gods, his father even more so now. The one and only meeting with his father had been burned in his mind, forever playing back as Luke thought of all the things he wished he'd said, and all the things he'd wished Hermes had said. But Luke remembered one thing he knew for sure Hermes had told him: _I __will __see __that __you __get __a __quest __soon._

As much as he hated his father, there was still some small part of him—the nine-year-old part of him—that wanted to believe that his father did care and love him like he'd said. That his father _was_ going to put in a good word or two to whoever assigned quests about him and he would get redemption. If he came back alive and succeeded then maybe his father would recognize him more.

And it was that little crystal of hope that had Luke training in the Camp arena as much as he physically could and as much as his schedule allowed. He trained with the best of the best at sword fighting and some hand-to-hand combat. He wanted to know it all, he wanted to know the tricks of being a good swordsman, how to disarm, how to defend, how to fight without a shield, without armor, with a shield. You name it, Luke strived to learn and be the best at it.

Soon he was beating the veteran kids a camp, disarming them with little to no effort.

Then finally Luke's day came.

He was training in the arena when Samson from the Apollo cabin came down and told Luke he was wanted at the Big House immediately. Luke was reluctant to just drop everything, because he _was_ in the middle of training, and he'd hate to just leave, but Samson's tone wasn't light.

With a sigh, he told Samson he'd be right there and went to put away his armor, shield and sword before jogging up to the Big House.

Chiron, a centaur with brown curly hair and a beard, was waiting for Luke inside. Luke bowed respectfully upon his entry, and slowly walked further in.

"Um, you wanted to see me?" Luke asked looking at Chiron.

"Yes, my boy, it would seem that your father has assigned you a quest." Chiron confirmed.

"What do I need to do?" Luke asked holding his breath, eagerly awaiting the answer.

Something flashed in the depths of Chiron's eyes, but it was gone before Luke could figure out what it was. Even so, it was clear that Chiron was a bit wary about telling Luke what his quest was going to be about. Was it really that bad? Was it life-threatening?

"The Garden of Hesperides," Chiron informed him. "Steal a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides and bring it to Mount Olympus."

Luke exhaled loudly. "You mean... you mean something that Hercules has _already_ done?" he queried trying to hide his astonishment and anger toward his father.

"This is not an easy task," Chiron reminded him, seeing some of Luke's displeasure in his wide blue eyes. "It is quite an honor that Hermes has assigned you such a dangerous quest that only the strongest, wittiest, most skilled person could complete."

Luke took a deep breath trying to get a hold of his emotions. All his training for three years straight, and _this_ was what he had to show for his skills? Repeating something someone's already done? He'd go on this quest, but it wasn't for the reasons you'd think. He was just humoring Hermes and Chiron and the gods if they were interested in watching.

A couple of long, grueling hours later Luke was in California, standing in front of the road that would lead him to the Garden of Hesperides. The air reeked with the stench of cough drops practically smothering Luke's sense of smell. It was like he wasn't breathing in oxygen anymore, just the smell of exhaled chewed eucalyptus leaves. Luke knew from reading and studying that dragons liked eucalyptus to take the bad breath away (in fact most monsters did). But, in Luke's opinion it seemed like taking eucalyptus to lessen bad breath was like eating onions in the morning instead of brushing your teeth.

After a few coughs and a small pep talk Luke started up the winding, narrow road that tore through forests and bordered ravines.

Fog and clouds weaved through the trees and floated over the ravines. When Luke passed all of that nature and got to the almost-barren cliffs, with wilted, yellow grass and plenty of rocks to go around, the fog then seemed to swirl around Luke now that it had nothing to cling onto.

Ignoring this as best he could, Luke concentrated on the road and the path ahead. As much as he didn't want to be here, he _was_ already here and there was really no turning back.

After a while longer Luke hit a sheet of pure Mist. Looking out across the cliff at the picturesque scene before him he determined he'd have to wait fifteen minutes at the most before sunset.

Just great.

Now he had fifteen minutes to kill. With a sigh, Luke started pacing, twirling his sword around, his mind thinking about this "quest" Hermes sent him on. How ridiculous it was. Where was the glory, the honor is repeating something that has already been done before, by a great hero whose names lives forever in the minds of mortals and demigods alike?

It sickened him. He trained until he was on the verge of throwing up. He'd trained with blood, sweat, and tears. He'd brushed up on his Greek mythology. He'd done everything he possibly could to prepare himself for this day and now the day has come. Only it didn't feel like his day. It felt like he was being stomped on by the shadow of Hercules, by the gods, by his father.

A _hero_ before his tragic fate that Hermes refused to tell him—sure didn't feel like it. Where the campers really going to praise and be excited for Luke if returned successfully? He highly doubted it.

Luke looked up and realized that the sun was starting to set. Taking a deep breath, he turned toward the now shifting sheets of fog and Mist. With another short pep talk, Luke stepped forward into the fog and focused on his goal: the Garden of Hesperides.

Not a moment later Luke exited the fog onto a dirt road. Looking out across the ocean the sun had half-sunk beneath the surface of the waves, cutting the calm sea waters in two. The red streak making it look as if the ocean was actually bleeding. The grass here wasn't as wilted and thicker. If Luke looked up he could see the peak of the mountain where Atlas bore the weight of the sky, keeping it from connecting with Mother Earth.

Finally Luke looked forward, his target very easily spotted. He followed the path as it led into a meadow of lush, dark green grass, and shadows being thrown across the ground. And as Luke slowly walked forward, the sun sunk below the waves extinguishing. The garden sparkled delicately with the glow of twilight. The flowers scattered around had such a brilliant color Luke's eyes perceived the illusion they were glowing in the dark.

Within the meadow black marble stones led up to a five-story apple tree that glistened and shimmered with the glow of golden apples, _the_ real golden apples. The stones split into two, curving around the tree… and the dragon surrounding it. A dragon that Luke couldn't even begin to imagine in his worst nightmares: Ladon.

The body was thick, large, and serpent-like that glistened with bronze scales, probably to compensate for the size of the tree, Luke assumed. Following the large body, Luke found its head—or rather, heads. At least a hundred of them, but Luke really didn't want to take the time to count.

It gave him a headache just looking at all the heads. Some were on top of another, some were intertwined with each other, and some were curled up alone. From what Luke could see, it was taking a little dragon nap, for its eyes were closed.

Luke wasn't exactly sure how he was going to skirt past it and grab one of those, luscious smelling golden apples without waking the great beast. It wound itself around the trunk, its heads in a pile, at one side. So, obviously, Luke was going to sneak up on the opposite side. Even if Ladon awoke this would give him at least a second or two to prepare for the snapping of a hundred heads all in his direction.

As Luke neared, the sound of soft singing somewhere in the garden floated toward his ears. It was an eerie tune, almost like a lullaby, but a little more depressing. Maybe something like a funeral dirge? Whatever the case, Luke needed to focus.

For a moment he paused suddenly remembering what that singing meant, the Hesperides. He scanned the garden, his heart pounding in his chest, waiting for them to reveal themselves. After a few moments of nothing, he guessed they knew of his quest and were leaving him be… for now.

Slowly, he stepped forward, careful to place his feet softly on the grass. He kept his breathing shallow. One hand held his sword just in case, and the other was free, ready to pluck an apple from the tree.

Even with all his precautions, his body was just going through the motions. Luke's mind was still boiling over the assignment of the quest rather than the quest itself. One large exhalation of breath and that was all it took for Ladon to wake.

It was Luke's lucky day: Ladon must've been a light sleeper.

Luke gripped his sword and had it at the ready even though the thought of taking on a bronze, hundred-headed dragon made Luke's stomach churn. It didn't seem possible that anyone would ever be able to battle this thing and win. But, that was the point, wasn't it? It was supposed to be an undefeatable dragon so that demigods would have a very hard time stealing an apple.

The only logical thing Luke could think of doing was distracting Ladon and running. He obviously was not going to succeed in this quest.

Luke's day just got better and better by the minute.

The only question was how was Luke going to make a distraction that posed a bigger threat in Ladon's mind?

The dragon's heads lifted and trained all two hundred eyes right on Luke filled with hatred. There was a symphony of hissing as its mouths opened. But that wasn't the worst part; the worst part was Ladon's breath. The eucalyptus leaves had no affect on this dragon's bad breath.

Luke gagged and almost dropped his sword, the stench made his stomach tighten, the hairs on his arms stand on end, chills run down his spine in waves, this morning's breakfast almost came up again.

Then the heads lunged. Still reeling from the stench, Luke leapt to his right and somehow, by a miracle, managed to get out of the way of Ladon's snapping jaws. But only by mere inches, and that was only because its heads were farther on Luke's left than his right.

Luke quickly got to his feet and braced himself for another attack. Ladon's heads came speeding down like rain. Luke deflected what heads he could with his sword, while trying to dodge the others. Ladon retreated, but Luke was too soon to judge and let his guard down for one second. One of Ladon's heads that was slower to retreat snapped at Luke's face.

He pulled back in a jerk, ADHD reflex, but one of the dragon's teeth sliced through his cheek, like a hot knife cutting through butter. Luke howled in pain as blood shot from his open wound and reached up to cover his laceration. The thick, dark red liquid was strange in such a beautiful place like this. The blood flowed freely down Luke's face, covering his hand and dripping onto the lush, green grass.

Luke's knees almost buckled from the pain, but somewhere inside his foggy brain a voice whispered to him. He needed to push through this and run! Just run as fast and as far as he could, away from this place, to safety. Not even looking to see where Ladon was—which was probably a stupid choice—Luke forced his muscles to respond to his commands and booked it out of the garden.

Luke kept blindly running, pushing through all the fog and Mist, threatening to suffocate him. His head pounded and he felt as if he was taking a bath in acid. His skin burned and his insides boiled. Luke fell to his knees, still holding his bleeding face, collapsing from exhaustion and pain. But it wasn't the physical pain that caused this. No, far from it, it was the pain of knowing he'd fallen short on his quest; the pain of knowing that his own father sent him in to this.

If he had just cared enough to think of something more original, more creative for Luke to do, that worked his skills in swordsmanship and problem solving and the history of Greek mythology, then maybe this would've never happened. But it was too late to turn back now. Luke had ultimately failed and would have a scar forever showing his failure.

* * *

><p>Luke stood on Half-Blood Hill, next to Thalia's tree, looking down over the valley. He was returning now, from his blundered attempt at a quest. His face was bandaged, the cut from Ladon's tooth running from just underneath his right eye all the way down to his jaw.<p>

He looked down at the valley with contempt, stuck here for the rest of his life. Just thinking about that made Luke's jaw tighten and his hands ball up into fists. He turned and looked at Thalia's tree wistfully, all anger dying from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Thalia." he murmured. With those words, Luke trekked down the hill and into camp. It was hard to hold his head high in the face of the many camper's pitiful stares. That's all Luke ever saw anymore, was _pity_. It made him absolutely sick. Pity, pity, _pity!_ He didn't want their pity!

Luke stormed into the Hermes cabin, more eyes locked onto him, all full of more of that pity.

"What?" he snapped. The camper's heads turned down and away, and the quiet murmuring started up. Gritting his teeth Luke went over to his bunk and sat down heavily.

That was it; that was the last straw.

He had had it with the Olympians. Every last one of them. Luke had to force himself to stay on his bed, the urge to go up to Mount Olympus anyway and tear the throne room down stone by stone.

They were all going to pay. It didn't matter if they hadn't anything to do with Luke's quest. They'd done plenty of horrible things to other people without a second thought that they needed to be shown that there were consequences to actions like that. He wanted to see his father, Hermes on his knees, squirming and begging for mercy. Mercy that would never be given, just like all of Luke's unanswered prayers.

It was about time the age of the Olympians be torn off their pedestal and crushed to ruins, and for a new age to begin.

**All right, I know it was a little rough, but it was hard writing about something that was only mentioned briefly. But I hope you enjoyed anyway. To my other readers, I apologize for the delay, writer's block!**

**thank-you-for-everything**

**~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!**


	2. Two

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**A/N: This chapter will probably be really confusing (like, way, way, _way _AU for the last 2/3 of the chapter), but if you'll just read through until the end hopefully it'll make more sense. I'm adding this because I think it's crucial to the story. Hope you enjoy!**

βήτα—Beta

Luke found himself standing in a very dark cavern. So dark he couldn't make much out, except for the slight outline of blobs, which he assumed were rocks. Silver mist, the only thing with actual color in here, swirled around Luke. They tugged at his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and were whispering something, but they were just incomprehensible noises.

Before him was a chasm. The only reason he could tell was that the darkness in the pit was darker than the darkness surrounding him in the cavern… if that even made any sense.

Without conscious command, Luke stepped forward, closer to the blackest pit he'd ever seen in his entire life and probably would ever see; so black it probably scared the light away from it; so black, it just seemed to stretch on and on into the depths of time and deep space. It made him lightheaded and nauseated just looking into it.

From the abyss floated a voice, ancient, icy, heavy even. It pressed against Luke, making it harder to breathe. The ghostly mist receded.

_So, the young godling wants vengeance,_ the voice stated sounding amused.

_What is this? Who are you? Where am I?_ Luke responded. He wasn't exactly scared, per se, but he wanted to know what was going on.

The thing in the pit laughed, the sound cold and like nails on a chalk board.

_You've hit the books, why don't you take a guess,_ the voice thundered, its tone mocking now. But Luke didn't answer. He didn't know. Even after all the studying he had done in preparation for his quest—

Anger broiled inside Luke at the thought of his quest.

_It wasn't fair,_ the voice said. _You trained hard for three years and this is how you're rewarded? A pathetic quest to retrieve a golden apple. Something the gods don't need or even care about. You'd like to show them, wouldn't you? To teach them a lesson. To have your revenge._

_ They don't care about us, _Luke spat. _My _father_ never cared about me. They don't deserve the thrones they sit on. It sickens me how they _use_ their children for their own personal gain._

The thing in the pit chuckled at his anger. _Then why don't you help me? Help me rise from this wretched pit that the gods have banished me to. And see the gods' sources of power destroyed. You will have your wish of ripping Mount Olympus down stone by stone._

This caught Luke's attention and so did the little piece of information that had been said in the previous sentences.

_You're Kronos, Lord of Time,_ Luke guessed feeling stupid that he hadn't realized it sooner.

_What do you say, Luke Castellan, son of Hermes,_ the Lord of Time asked. _Help me rise from Tartarus and watch the gods fall and a new age begin._

"Luke!" an outside voice called. "Luke, wake up!" And just like that he was opening his eyes, in his bunk back in the Hermes cabin at Camp Half-Blood.

"What, what, is something wrong?" Luke asked sitting up and looking around, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the summer sunlight streaming through the windows, compared to the cavern he'd been in not a moment ago.

Chris Rodriguez, also a son of Hermes, shook his head. "No, but I thought I should wake you up." He shrugged.

"Oh, uh, thanks, I guess." Luke muttered his mind mostly on practically meeting Kronos. There was no way that was just a dream. But there was no way that a Titan was asking Luke for help. It just seemed so surreal. He was a powerful Titan, even after being chopped up into a million pieces with his own scythe. Luke shuddered at the thought of his true power when fully assembled.

"It was nothing, man," Chris said breaking Luke out of his musings. "Besides you're the head of our cabin. If you missed breakfast, technically, we'd all miss breakfast and I'm starved this morning."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," And with that, Luke tried to push that meeting with the Titan to the backburner and focus on getting through another day at camp.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Luke," Thalia greeted, her blue eyes lighting up as she smiled.<p>

"Hey," Luke breathed, happy as well to see the gorgeous daughter of Aphrodite. Luke had had a crush on her for a while now… pretty much ever since she'd shown up at Camp Half-Blood, actually.

"Can I… can I talk to you?" she asked hesitantly. "In private." she added looking around at all the other campers from the Hermes and Apollo cabins. They were in the training area, practicing sword fighting, and Thalia had finally managed to build enough courage to go talk to him about something really important she'd been thinking about for almost a year now.

They'd grown close these past two years here at camp. They were practically brother and sister—well in Thalia's mind anyway, Luke had other ideas—and they could talk to each other about anything knowing that their secrets and desires would be kept safe with each other.

Luke sheathed his sword. "Yeah, sure…. Uh, why don't we go out onto the canoe lake and talk there? Is that private enough?"

"Um… if there aren't many people out there." Thalia mumbled the smile dropping. Luke could now see just how distraught she was on the inside.

"Hey, are… are you all right?" Luke asked, leading her toward the exit.

"I'm fine," Thalia mumbled. "I just…" She took a deep breath. "I just need to talk to you about something really important."

They walked in silence toward the lake. It only took a few minutes for Luke and Thalia to get the canoe set up and paddle to about the middle. There, they sat the sun beating down on them. The strawberry fields in full bloom, their sweet smell wafting toward them. A cool summer breeze blew through the valley, relieving the campers of the incessant heat.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Luke prompted after a few minutes of silence.

Thalia sighed heavily, looking down at her lap and twiddling her thumbs. "I've been thinking for a while now, about this. And before we continue, I want you to know that it's taken me a really, really long time to get up the nerve to come talk to you about this."

Luke reached over and squeezed Thalia's knee. "You can talk to me about anything, Thalia." he told her. "You know that right? I'll always be there for you. So, what is this thing you want to talk to me about?"

Thalia looked up and smiled at him but it didn't match her eyes. They were sad and afraid but also determined.

Thalia took another deep breath and averted her eyes from Luke's penetrating wintery blue. "I've been thinking about… about…" Thalia bit her lip. When she spoke again her voice had lowered tremendously. "About joining the Hunters." she finally said.

Luke was silent for so long that Thalia finally gave in and looked up at him. His blue eyes were torn.

He didn't know what to say. He cared for her. He loved her. But if she chose to join the Hunters they could never be together like he'd always pictured.

"Why? What made you decide this?" Luke finally asked, trying to see it from her point of view.

"Last year, our trip to Mount Olympus during the winter solstice," Thalia began feeling a bit more relieved that he hadn't totally gone berserk on her about what she was still contemplating. Nothing was set in stone, and Thalia had given herself until this year's winter solstice to decide if she really wanted to join the Hunt. "I had a falling out with my mom." Thalia grimaced. "She wasn't very happy with me—"

"Wait, so are you just running away from your mom?" Luke interrupted.

Thalia's eyes widened. "No! No, I'm not—"

"But that just doesn't make any sense. Your mother is the goddess of love. Shouldn't you be in love with the falling in love?" he cut her off again.

Thalia let out a growl. "I _hate it_ when people say that!" Thalia stood up, rocking the canoe so much Luke almost fell out; she didn't seem to notice. "So what if she's the goddess of love! She's not around for me. She hasn't been a very good mother for me. So I think I can make my own decisions without her consent. It's my life! I want to live it the way _I_ want to, not the way my mother's shadow says I have to!" She sat down heavily. "I should've never talked to you about this. I knew you'd freak out." she muttered crossing her arms.

Luke sighed feeling guilty now. "Thalia," he said gently reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away and glared down at some naiads in the lake. Luke pulled his hand away. "Thalia, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to upset you. It's just…" Luke trailed off. He'd never really told Thalia about his feelings before. He was kind of afraid to.

When you have a relationship like theirs, being best friends for so long, it's hard to get out of the best friend zone. Luke truly loved and cared about Thalia, but if he said he did what would Thalia say to that? Would she scoff? Would she laugh? Would she still just want to be friends?

Then again, if he told her now, there was a chance that Thalia _did_ love him too and was only joining the Hunters because she thought that he didn't love her and was just trying to find relief from heartbreak…. That was a possibility right? So, if he told her now, would it change her mind about joining the Hunt?

"It's just—" Luke tried again.

Thalia's eyes snapped up to look up at him. "Just what, Luke?"

Luke put his hands on Thalia's. "I… I love you, Thalia." He paused but lost the nerve. "I love you like a sister, and… and I don't want to lose you."

"You won't be losing me, though, Luke. I… I just probably won't see you every day. But, I think I can still try and visit you sometimes." Thalia said quietly.

"Isn't that against what Artemis stands for though?" Luke asked pulling back.

"I'm not supposed to have a relationship with boys, but a friend, a brother, I think is different." More silence formed between them. "It's… it's not like it's set in stone, Luke." Thalia said to comfort him, seeing clearly just how much this bothered him. "I still have several months to think more about this. But I am swaying toward joining them. I just thought I'd let you know ahead of time. I didn't want this to be a huge shock."

Luke took a deep breath. Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope.

"Okay, thank you for telling me. I'm sorry I upset you." he mumbled. The conch horn sounded in the distance. Luke looked around and realized that the sun was starting to set, turning the sky an array of summer colors, from orange, to yellow, to lilac, even. "Dinner time." he said taking hold of the paddles and started rowing them back to shore.

* * *

><p>Roughly five months later, the year-rounders were in one of Camp Half-Blood's vans heading toward the Empire State building for their trip to Mount Olympus.<p>

Thalia was feeling queasy. After months of contemplating and debating and talking with Luke once in a while she had finally come to a decision: she was going to join the Hunt. She felt she didn't belong at Camp Half-Blood. She felt she just couldn't find a niche there. She didn't really have a specialty and felt like an outcast. Just because most of the boys at camp had a thing for her didn't mean she was happy. Was it love or was it just attraction?

That had always bothered Thalia, that boys only complimented and wanted to go out with her because she was just a pretty face in their eyes. They didn't want to go beyond the surface and get to know the real her.

She hoped that Luke was ultimately ready and okay with her decision. He was probably the only guy who had gotten to know the real her. Who cared about the person she was and not the looks she had. It devastated her that she was leaving him, it really did, but she felt this was her path, this was her destiny. Even though she felt sick about this upcoming ultimatum, she felt it was the right choice. She finally felt she'd be something, some_one_.

Hopefully Artemis would be there. Of course, they'd have a meeting—well, Thalia was speculating—but she really wanted it to be in private. Only Chiron and Luke really knew of Thalia's plans.

It was later that night did Thalia get a chance to talk to Artemis in the throne room. The other campers were asleep. Chiron had come along and Artemis's lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade stood at her mistress's side. A low fire burned, lighting half the room, casting an eerie glow, making everything around them seem darker. Like there was a force field protecting the group from the pressing, consuming darkness.

Chiron looked wary about this, but he led Thalia inside and gave her a gentle, encouraging push toward Artemis, who was regular-sized as a young girl with auburn hair and silvery-yellow eyes. He then stood back a few feet to observe quietly.

"Chiron tells me you would like to join the Hunt, young Thalia Grace." Artemis said as Thalia came forward.

Thalia nodded timidly, never having been this close to a god/goddess before (not even when she'd fought with her mother). "Y-yes, m-my lady." she stuttered out kneeling respectfully, her heart pounding in her chest.

"You do realize what this means," Artemis's lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade, spoke. Thalia stood, determination clear in her eyes, and nodded.

"Yes, I do. And I accept them." she said with a surprisingly stead voice.

Zoë Nightshade was quiet for a moment as she looked at Thalia. "Repeat after me," she finally said. "'I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis.'"

Thalia took a deep breath and repeated, "I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis."

"'I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.'"

Thalia repeated her voice staying steady the whole time. Zoë Nightshade looked over at Artemis, Thalia following her example.

"I accept the pledge," Artemis said with a nod of her head. The fire in the hearth burned brighter for a moment, the glow around them becoming silver in light. Thalia felt new life being breathed into her. She stood taller and she took a deep breath, like she had just stepped out of a sauna into the cold night air. It was refreshing and felt wonderful.

She felt the power that had been cooped up inside of her rushing through her veins, all the potential she had wasn't just potential anymore: it was real. She wasn't just some pretty Aphrodite girl—not that all of them were—she was a part of the Hunt.

Zoë Nightshade looked back at Thalia with an expression with what looked like the verge of a smile and said, "Welcome sister,"

Thalia smiled brightly back.

Artemis looked at Thalia sternly. "Remember the pledge, it is now your life." she reminded.

Thalia nodded.

Not only a second later did the throne room illuminate in a godly glow. Thalia quickly averted her eyes, her hand coming up to cover her eyes instinctively, not sure that even though she was technically immortal now, she'd still be vaporized if she saw a god's true form.

"No daughter of mine will be a _Hunter_!" the voice of Aphrodite thundered before her form took shape into a ten-foot tall, gorgeous woman dressed in a red satin dress, her hair had been curled into a waterfall of ringlets. But her expression was that of animosity. She was like a model in a magazine for women serial killers: beautiful and dangerous.

Thalia lowered her hand and looked up at her mother bravely, tapping into that newfound confidence that had been smothered by a demigod's life, by her unsupportive parent, by her missing father, by the insecurities she had of trying to live up to what everyone saw she was.

"This is my life," she told Aphrodite calmly. "I can make my _own_ decisions without your consent."

Aphrodite's eyes flashed dangerously, her hands balling into fists.

"How dare you defy me!" she spat. "My own daughter! I'm ashamed in you, disappointed! You had so much promising features and threw them all away by joining the Hunters! Shunning love like it's nothing, like it's not a feeling that applies to you."

"_Promising features_? For what?" Thalia asked incredulously. "Mom, I felt like a nobody at camp, and now, I don't feel like a robot, just going through the motions of everyday life. I'm not just some pretty girl. I finally feel people will respect me for who I am, not for what I look like."

Aphrodite shrunk down to human size and walked toward her daughter. "But you were someone to Luke." she said quietly her eyes softening, ignoring that she'd just insulted Aphrodite's looks.

Thalia jerked back in surprise. "Luke?" she questioned, confused.

"Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. He loves you, Thalia. How can you be so blind?" Aphrodite informed.

"He does?" Thalia murmured. Then she remembered the oath she'd just made and shook her head. "It's too late for that. I've already joined the Hunters. There's no going back. I _know_ my place is with the Hunters."

Aphrodite's eyes filled with disgust. "So you're just going to ignore the love that Luke is giving you?" she hissed.

"I don't love him in that way." Thalia answered quietly. "You've never been a real mother to me, and whether you like it or not, I've joined the Hunters and I plan to be the best huntress this decade has ever seen."

Thalia turned away from a fuming Aphrodite and started for the exit. Zoë Nightshade was waiting at the door. Chiron and Artemis were nowhere to be seen. As Thalia neared, she turned and said, "Follow thee."

Even though she'd just been dubbed a Hunter, Thalia got to rest where the Hunters rested on Mount Olympus, and it was nice. It was enthralling, really. They all welcomed her like she had been a Hunter for years now and was coming back from a long trip. It was an amazing feeling. And they said nothing about her demigod origins or the fact that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was her mother.

Thalia had finally found her place in this world.

* * *

><p>It was only a few years later did the Hunters of Artemis have to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Aphrodite had been lying in the wait, waiting patiently for the opportune moment of action and her patience was rewarded. They would be staying for only a few days, but that was enough.<p>

With a single wave of her hand she multiplied Luke's undying love for Thalia by tenfold, almost to the point he was obsessing. Thalia was all he could think about, all he cared about. He would do or be anything she needed him to be. He'd stay faithfully at her side and protect her from any harm. Now that she had arrived back at camp, it was his chance to win her heart back and make her renounce her ties with the Hunters for good.

It was all up to Luke now. All Aphrodite had to do was sit back and watch this romantic tragedy play out before her.

**Okay so, I meant to get the weird AU thing over in this chapter but decided to stretch it on into the next chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing****….**

**Anyhow, I would like to thank sugarcoatedslashersmile for letting me use the concept of one of her stories for my story.**

**thank-you-for-everything**

**~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!**


	3. Three

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**A/N: Okay, more of this weird AU thing (for about 2/3 of this chapter), but it'll be over after this chapter for sure. Hope you enjoy!**

γάμα—Gamma

Luke walked up to the small group of Hunters that were surrounding Thalia. They were talking, just relaxing, just being girls, which must've felt nice after being on the move with Artemis constantly.

"Hey, Thalia," he greeted as he came closer. The Hunters in the group stopped talking immediately and glared up at this _boy_. Luke didn't seem to mind them though, his eyes were on Thalia, and Thalia only.

"Um, hey, Luke." she mumbled apprehensively. "Do you… do you mind. We were kind of in the middle of something."

"Thalia, I haven't seen you forever. I'd really like to talk to you and catch up with you." Luke told her, still ignoring the other Hunters who were about ready to tell him off if he didn't leave.

Thalia and Luke looked at each other for a long moment before she sighed heavily. "It's okay, guys," she murmured looking around at the other Hunters. "I won't be long."

They looked warily at Thalia but slowly got up and left the two alone. Thalia made sure to put a good foot between her and Luke as Luke sat down next to her.

"It's… it's good to see you again, Luke." she said quietly. "How have things been here?"

"Nothing has ever been the same without you here, Thalia." Luke claimed, not even lowering his voice or keeping it between them. Anyone within earshot could've heard that.

"Luke, I'm a Hunter now. I still love you, but like… like a brother. I _can't_ be with you like that. It's against the oath I made to Lady Artemis." Thalia said not sparing Luke's feelings.

Luke moved closer to her and took her hands in his. "But, Thalia, _I love you_. I was too afraid to tell you back then, but now, now I want to be with you forever. Why can't you just accept my love? Oath or not."

Thalia pulled her hands out of his and stood up. "Luke," she started harshly. "I _can't_. How many times am I going to have to tell you that? It's much too late to be telling me you love me more than just a sister. You should've said something all the times that I talked to you about my decision!

"And I am most certainly _not_ turning my back on Lady Artemis or my sisters. That's the worst kind of betrayal. I would never do that to any of them. So, please, if you're going to keep doing this, I don't want to see or talk to you anymore." Thalia finished and didn't wait for Luke to respond before turning her heel and going back to Artemis's designated cabin.

"I won't give up, Thalia Grace!" Luke called after her anyway. "My love for you burns brighter than the sun!"

Thalia just wished he would shut up! Letting everyone know about his feelings for her. It didn't sound too good in a Hunter's eyes.

Speaking of, they gave her odd looks as she stepped in.

"It's nothing!" Thalia snapped. "I promise I won't go astray. I don't love him." she assured them.

That night there was a soft knock on their cabin door. Thalia had been afraid of this and, before Luke could make any more noise and attract attention, she jumped out of bed and slipped out of the cabin.

"What?" she hissed, eyes darting around the inverted U.

"I needed to see you, Thalia." Luke whispered. "I needed to tell you that I can't live without you. I need you in my life. Please, be with me!" His voice rose and Thalia covered his mouth with her hand quickly, head looking around afraid someone might wake up.

When nothing happened she removed her hand before taking Luke's arm and dragging him into the woods to talk in private and assuring no one would be eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Okay, listen," Thalia said as soon as they were a good distance from the cabins. She could, however, still see them through the trees, just in case. "For the last time, _I do not love you_. I will never be with you. So give your love to someone else. Someone… someone more deserving than I. I'm a Hunter and I will never, ever be able to be with you for the rest of my immortal life. So, please, just let me go. You're going to kill yourself if you keep obsessing over me, and that concerns me, Luke."

Luke put his hands on Thalia's upper forearms. "Never say never, Thalia." Luke whispered his blue eyes alight with energy and pure love. "And you _are_ deserving! You're deserving of anyone's love. I'm just so lucky to be that person to love you. I don't care how long I have to wait, I'll always wait for you, even in the afterlife. I'll wait for as long as I have to if I get you in the end."

Thalia jerked out of Luke's grasp, gritting her teeth.

"Don't touch me." she spat angrily.

Luke reached forward to stroke Thalia's cheek. "You've changed so much," he commented quietly.

Thalia slapped his hand away and turned her back toward him. She let out a growl. "What brought this on? What made you brave enough to tell a Hunter of Artemis that you love them?" Luke didn't answer, so Thalia turned and as she did Luke took her arms into his grip, pulled her forward, and pressed his lips up against hers.

Thalia was too shocked at first to push away, but when a gasp sounded and she looked out of the corners of her eyes to see Phoebe, she shoved Luke away and immediately turned her attention to her fellow Hunter.

"Phoebe, please, this isn't what it looks like." she begged, walking forward. But Phoebe was beyond listening, Thalia—whether on purpose or not—had just broken Artemis's sacred oath. Phoebe turned and ran back to rat Thalia out on all the Hunters. Thalia turned toward Luke, tears brimming her eyes. "This is all your fault! I can't believe you would do that!" With those uplifting words, Thalia turned and sprinted after Phoebe.

When she entered Artemis's cabin, breathless, all the Hunters were awake, surrounding Phoebe. They looked like they didn't want to believe what she was saying, and as soon as Thalia stepped in all eyes turned on her. There was a moment of deafening silence before things broke out into chaos, the silence shattering like glass.

So many questions flew at Thalia: Did you kiss him? Did he kiss you? How could you break our sacred oath? How could you betray Lady Artemis and your sisters-in-arms like that? Do you love Luke Castellan? Have you loved Luke all these years?

Finally, Zoë Nightshade's voice broke through the barrier of questions, silencing all of the Hunters.

"Did thou kiss Luke Castellan?" she asked her eyes cold, and devoid of any sympathy or understanding.

"No, I didn't. He forced me into a kiss." Thalia answered truthfully.

"But thou still kissed him, did thee not?" Zoë Nightshade challenged.

All of Thalia's breath whooshed out of her lungs. "Well, yes, but—"

There was an uproar in the cabin, not giving Thalia any chance to finish and explain herself.

"Quiet! _Quite!_" Zoë Nightshade yelled over them again. Her eyes locked onto Thalia's as she said these next words, "We shall request to see Lady Artemis promptly and see what Thalia Grace's fate will be."

Thalia swallowed nervously and looked pleadingly at her sisters, who glared coldly back.

Just then there were three raps on the door. Keeping her eyes on Thalia, Zoë Nightshade started toward the door to open it. Thalia sidled out of the way, dropping her gaze to the floor, feeling ashamed, and disappointed, and horrible that this happened. How could she have let this happen? Why had she gone into the woods alone with Luke?

"Is everything all right?" Chiron's voice floated inside.

Zoë Nightshade turned her head to look at Thalia for a moment before turning back to Chiron. "I am afraid there has been an... _accident_, and we are needed on Mount Olympus at once."

"Of course, you are free to use one of our vans." Chiron said politely.

"We will be out in a moment." Zoë Nightshade informed nodding and then closing the door. She turned to the Hunters. "Let us pack our things and leave for Mount Olympus." she instructed.

Thalia did so, not saying a word, feeling sick to her stomach. Had she just majorly screwed up?

The drive there was quiet, no one dared to talk. No one even wanted to look at Thalia. They were all disgusted, it didn't need to be said. They couldn't understand how Thalia could've been forced into something like a kiss. It just didn't seem possible. She had to be lying or not telling the whole truth, at least.

Thanks to Zoë Nightshade's driving they were at the Empire State Building in no time at all.

The Hunters filed out and one of the harpies from camp got into the driver's seat and drove the van back to camp.

It was fairly easy to get up to the 600th floor, and when the Hunters filed into the throne room after Zoë Nightshade, Lady Artemis was already there, waiting for them, standing in front of her throne. Her eyes burned icily and Thalia's breath caught and she almost turned and ran right out of the throne room she was so scared.

When all the Hunters were situated in front of Lady Artemis, she wasted no time for explanations.

"Thalia Grace," she barked. "Step forward."

The Hunters in front of her stepped aside and, swallowing hard, Thalia walked forward to face Artemis: dead Hunter walking.

She held no sympathy in her eyes, eyes as cold as the dark side of the moon, eyes that flashed dangerously.

"You have disgraced the Hunters—" Artemis started.

"Please, Lady Artemis, let me explain—" Thalia tried.

"Do not interrupt me!" Artemis bellowed. "You have _disgraced_ me and my Hunters. You have disrespected me and my Hunters. _You_, Thalia Grace, have broken the sacred oath that binds us. And you know what that means."

"Please, Lady Artemis!" Thalia begged tears streaming down her face. "Please, it was an accident! I swear! I don't love Luke! I don't! You have to believe me. He pulled me into that kiss. I didn't want to kiss him. Please, you've got to believe me."

"You agreed to these terms, and you shall face the consequences. You are clearly not as loyal to me as you claim to be, and therefore you are no longer a Hunter." Artemis said. And just like that the power that had been flowing through Thalia's veins, mixing with her blood was gone. The blow was so shocking, Thalia's knees buckled. She felt absolutely hollow. She was just another pretty face again and there was no way Artemis would ever even consider letting Thalia join the Hunt.

There she sat, sobbing in front of Artemis and the Hunters.

That is until Artemis had had enough. "I suggest you leave before I decide to punish you further."

Willing her body to move, Thalia pushed herself to her feet and shoved her way through the group of Hunters before dashing out of the throne room, tears still streaming down her face.

Now where was she going to go? What was she going to do? Go back to camp? She couldn't. She couldn't face them. She couldn't face Luke.

The doors to the elevator down dinged and opened. Thalia wasn't watching or thinking and almost crashed into the woman standing inside, grinning wickedly.

Thalia veered back and gasped.

"_You._" she snarled at her mother, Aphrodite. "You did this! You cast a spell on Luke, didn't you! _You're the reason I got kicked out of the Hunters!_"

"Now, sweetheart, don't be that way. It was for your own good. Those Hunters just don't know how to appreciate love." Aphrodite clicked her tongue. "It's so sad. They're just immature. Artemis got to them before I could. But, you, you are my daughter. You should know better than that. Now, come, you should get back to camp. Luke will be waiting eagerly to see you."

"No! I don't want to go back to camp! How dare you act like nothing happened! I hate you! You ruined my life! I was finally, truly happy and you ripped that away from me!" Thalia shrieked at her mother. "I don't want to see or speak to you ever again. You _disgust_ me!"

Aphrodite's eyes flared. "You will regret that, young lady." she spat. "I was trying to do you a favor, and here you are as ungrateful as ever. You make me sick. You'd better watch it, Thalia. There are things that I could make you do that you couldn't even begin to imagine in your worst nightmares."

Thalia shook her head. "Empty threats."

"You want to bet?" Aphrodite challenged. Thalia met her eyes and suddenly she was standing on Half Blood-Hill. She didn't know how that was something Thalia couldn't imagine in her worst nightmares, but that didn't matter. She was worn. She was tired. She needed to rest, whether she wanted to be publicly humiliated or not. She'd just have to worry about that in the morning.

Thalia hesitated descending the hill. She couldn't just sneak into the Aphrodite cabin like nothing happened. Because a bunch had happened, and there was no doubt she'd be bombarded with questions from, not only her half-sisters and brothers, but also any camper brave enough to approach her.

It wasn't going to be a very pleasant year.

Sighing, Thalia trudged down the hill and went over to the Big House. Maybe Chiron would let her sleep there, just for the night. Then she'd move back into the Aphrodite cabin when people got over the shock of seeing her back as a mere mortal... or rather mere half-blood.

She knocked on the door quietly, three times. At first she was afraid that she'd knocked too quietly and Chiron hadn't heard her, but finally she heard the muffled _clop, clop, clop_ of hooves and finally the door opened. Thalia tried to hold her head up high, but when she saw Chiron, her eyes watered up and her lower lip shook.

Without a word, Chiron stepped aside and waved her in. She smiled up at him as a thank you and wiped away the tears that had managed to escape her eyes before stepping in.

It would be easier to just say things got better, but it didn't. Sure the questions stopped after a month. Sure the rumors stopped after three. But things most definitely did not get better. Her half-brothers and sisters totally forgave her for "going amiss" but now were forcing Luke on her, saying that it was the best and greatest thing that she found her soulmate.

But that was just it! He _wasn't_ in the slightest her soulmate! She held no love for him whatsoever. It had all disappeared that day that he'd forced her into a kiss in front of her fellow Hunter. They just wouldn't stop though! Any chance they could get they'd leave Thalia and Luke alone on purpose. Or they'd talk about how amazing it must be to be with someone that was made for you.

It was becoming too much for Thalia to handle. She felt like she was being treated like some object that was just there to please Luke. Like Luke loved her so much that he didn't. Aphrodite's love spell was so powerful that Thalia was Luke's life, literally. Like she was the tie that held him to this earth and if she died he'd die too. She was just property to him now. All she was in his eyes was a possession that he needed to survive.

It made Thalia absolutely sick to her stomach thinking about this fact. And the problem was; no one seemed to realize what she did. They just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. And Thalia didn't think she could take any more of it.

By the time that the trip to Mount Olympus for the winter solstice rolled around once again, Thalia had finally decided what she was to do to get away from all this peer pressure. It may have looked like an easy way out, but when you're a half-blood with a mother and goddess who's known for love who is trying to force a person you don't love on you, there are not a lot of other choices you have.

That night on Mount Olympus Thalia snuck out and walked to the edge of the place floating thousands of feet above Manhattan. She looked down, the wind up there whipping at her face, so cold she felt her body numb in seconds. But that was probably a good thing, considering what she was about to do.

Of course, though, Luke didn't fail to notice Thalia sneak out. And, of course, he followed her.

"Thalia," he called stepping out from the shadows he'd been hiding in.

Thalia turned and suddenly, just like that it was like it was no longer Thalia, and it was no longer Luke. Luke was now looking at the same scene but with two different people. The guy was tall with jet black hair and hazel eyes. The girl had long, waving dirty blonde hair with jade green eyes. It was an odd feeling; one moment he's looking from the perspective of this black-haired boy at what he thought was Thalia, and the next thing he's floating somewhere above, looking at two complete strangers.

The girl was standing inches from the edge, inches from her death. The boy took a step forward.

"Hey," he said quietly.

The girl mirrored, taking a step back. "Don't come any closer." she whispered, the wind carrying her voice over to the boy.

The boy didn't listen. He started forward.

Luke could just hear the girl's heart pound in her chest as the boy came forward. She looked over her shoulder down at the moving, spinning lights of Manhattan, took a deep breath, turned to face the boy, closed her eyes and just like that fell backward.

For a moment it was like everything had slowed, she seemed to fall like she was in molasses, and then when the barrier was broken and gravity took over, she was like a meteor speeding toward earth.

Then the scene melted and changed. Luke was standing on the sidewalk in front of the Empire State Building. Sirens blared, at least five cop cars surrounded the sidewalk a few feet away from Luke, their lights flashing: blue, red, blue, red, blue, red. People were gathered around, there were screams of terror, sobbing from somewhere, whisper, murmurs, talking, yelling.

Luke walked forward, brushing past all the people and coming to a stop in front of one of the cops protecting the scene. He shifted to get a better look and what he saw made him want to throw up. It was that same girl, but her body had been mutilated. Her limbs were twisted and broken in ways that the human body couldn't possibly be bent. Bone stuck out of her flesh, and there was a crater the shape of her body, she'd hit the cement so hard.

But that wasn't the worst part, that wasn't the part that made Luke want to throw up. The worst part—no, the worst part—was her expression: pure bliss, euphoria. An unnaturally stretched smile plastered on her face, like she was the happiest girl alive.

Like dying had been the best part of her entire life.

Darkness covered his vision, like he was just floating somewhere. White mist surrounded him, they whispered words just beyond his hearing, but as they drifted past Luke he'd catch some of the words their ghostly voices spoke:

_ death... death..._

_ death... death... death..._

_ murder... murder..._

_murder... murder..._

_ gods... gods... gods..._

_ murder... murder... the gods..._

_ kill... kill... kill! kill!_

_murder! murder! murder!_

* * *

><p>Luke jerked awake. He'd broken out in a cold sweat. He was still at Camp Half-Blood, but their field trip was in three days and that didn't settle well with Luke. Now that he was awake and his mind was slowly clearing he could put together what those voices were trying to tell him.<p>

Aphrodite and Artemis had murdered that poor girl, while the other gods did nothing about it. It was because of their medaling, especially on Aphrodite's part, that that girl decided to take the leap. It hadn't been fair to that unnamed girl. The gods played with her life and she ended up dead.

What hypocrites they were! Hermes told him who knows how many times gods couldn't interfere with their children's lives, and there was Aphrodite meddling and casting love spells left and right.

After that first day Luke met Kronos, he had started dreaming of the Lord of Time almost every single night. December had finally rolled around and so did the winter solstice. That's when Kronos started pressing and convincing that Luke had to steal something that no one ever dared to steal. Steal something invaluable, something no one would ever think of stealing.

Seeing this girl's death, picturing Thalia's body mutilated in that way all too easily… this only motivated Luke to do what Kronos had been telling him to do. To be perfectly honest, Luke had been a little hesitant about Kronos's current plots. But this angered him, ignited the furry inside of him for the gods. Puppet masters they were; the half-bloods here were play things to the gods, disposable, replaceable, used to produce entertainment.

Luke trained even harder as well, preparing himself for whatever was to come, refining his swordsmanship and skills. He practiced with the dummies and any campers who dare try to go up against him. Soon Chiron let him teach classes to the campers and that was very pleasing. No one at camp could be him in a duel, not even anyone from the Ares or Athena cabins.

And finally… the winter solstice was upon him. And finally… he was going to make the gods pay for what they'd done to him, to that nameless girl, to all the half-bloods that had died because of the gods; that had been ignored by the gods, yet expected to do their bidding.

**Okay, well I hope you enjoyed that… although it was a bit morbid. Again I'd like to thank surgercoatedslashersmile for letting me use the concept of one of her stories for this. I'll try to update soon!**

**thank-you-for-everything**

**~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!**


	4. Four

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**A/N: Okay, so again, it's so super hard to write about something that was only mentioned vaguely… so I wrote what I thought was "logical" and how I interpret what happened.**

**Also, I'd like to make a shout-out to the reviewers of the week: darklilyofthevalley and crushcrushcrushx2! You guys are rockin' and I love reading your reviews and am so grateful that you read my story! Thank you! Hope you enjoy!**

δέλτα—Delta

Luke was obviously on edge as they rode into Manhattan and then up to Mount Olympus. Who wouldn't be? But this was the right choice. Luke was speaking for those who didn't have a voice or who weren't brave enough to go against the gods. It was time that they paid for millennia after millennia of getting away with murder and cruel and unusual punishment.

Anytime he felt a shadow of doubt Luke thought back to that horribly vivid dream that Kronos had sent him. He pictured the mangled, maimed body of that poor unnamed girl… a girl that would forever be unnamed to Luke. Kronos would not reveal that information if he knew and when Luke went to talk to Chiron about it, he was suddenly very busy with everything else at camp.

All the while, though, he _had_ managed to at least tell Luke that he had no idea what he was talking about, but Luke wasn't stupid. He knew that Chiron was trying to avoid him, avoid telling him anything. At least it gave Luke confirmation that this tragic story had happened, that this girl did exist. Because as good as it felt to finally have someone understand what he was going through, where he was coming from, and offer to let him help take the gods down, Kronos's name "The Crooked One" wasn't just some pet-name.

Luke knew he had to be cautious because Kronos could just conjure up some vivid images just to get Luke to do his bidding.

Like right now.

He'd stolen things before, plenty of things. Swords, knives, arrows, bows, blankets, food, wallets (lots and lots of wallets), but stealing something so powerful…? A gods' symbol of power! That was… was unheard of, had never been done before. But it was good. Kronos had told him that if he succeeded he had to bring the item down to him in Tartarus.

So, again, here he was, on Mount Olympus waiting for his chance to sneak into the throne room. In a way being a year-rounder at camp for five years actually wasn't bad… in this case at least. He'd visited Olympus so many times he knew it like the back of his hand. He'd seen the throne room and knew where the gods sat. Of course he'd never really seen where they put their symbols of power when they weren't using them, but Kronos had promised that it wouldn't be hard to find.

Luke was counting on that fact.

Knowing that he knew the place so well was a relief to Luke, but still, this was the biggest thing he'd ever done since his life began, and he couldn't help but feel nervous. Luke shook himself, he couldn't afford to feel nervous, when you felt nervous you made mistakes and here, any mistakes that were made would ruin everything.

Luke took a deep breath and tried to dispel any and all feelings. Any kind of feelings now wouldn't help him, not even his hatred and loathing. He just had to sneak in, grab the bolt and sneak back out. That was it. Easy as that. Right now he was waiting for the rest of the year-rounders to fall asleep. They'd just spent a whole day touring Mount Olympus and had gotten a glimpse of the throne room.

Luke being old enough now was chaperoning.

They were too excited to sleep though. It was thoroughly frustrating. But finally, _finally_, they went to sleep. Of course he had to wait longer to make sure they were asleep, but around one or two am, everything became silent. There was no noise inside or out. And now was the time he'd have to do it. He only had a short amount of time to get in, steal the item and then get it to Kronos.

Making sure to be as quiet as a mouse, Luke slipped out of his bunk, grabbed his backpack and his sword and strapped it around his waist before slipping out of the little building they were currently residing in, the building they always resided in when they visited Mount Olympus.

Outside was cold. Luke could hear the wind whistle and howl, but the low-burning bronze braziers cast off the biting cold. It was still chilly, but Luke thought without the braziers he'd be frozen as soon as he stepped his foot out of the building. And he hadn't exactly thought to bring a coat. He kind of had other, more important things than bundling up on his mind at the moment.

Luke headed up the main cobblestone path, his breath a warm mist against the cool night air. One strap of the backpack slung over his shoulder. All the lights in the houses were out and the windows closed. The markets were silent and closed and the park was empty with no sign of life. It was odd, what did immortals do at night? Surely not sleep.

No matter, Luke continued up the path to the throne room. He stopped at the doors for a moment, taking a deep breath and cleansing his mind. Get in, grab the bolt, get out. He repeated this to himself over and over again and finally opened the door. It swung open slowly without a sound, and Luke slipped inside the small opening. He tried not to get distracted by moving constellations or the other giant thrones sitting in the inverted U.

_Keep your eyes on the prize._ Luke thought to himself walking forward, straight toward Zeus's throne, a thing made out of what looked to be solid platinum. The hearth was completely out; the only light was the sliver coming through from the open door. But this was good, that meant not even Hestia was here. None of the gods were. Luke was tempted to snort at how they seemed to think that no one would come into the throne room without permission, but thought better of it.

A few feet away from Zeus's throne, Luke stopped. He may have been a tall, lean, muscular guy at 19, but even he couldn't reach the height of the seat of the throne. He had to look from afar and grab the item with the makeshift grappling hook he'd made. It was hard to tell if there was anything on or near his throne in the gloom, but a small spark caught Luke's eye.

He zeroed in on it and there it was, just sitting there on Zeus's throne, unprotected, unguarded. How arrogant and egotistic. Was he so big-headed that he thought he could leave his item of power sitting on the seat of his throne just like that. Luke rolled his eyes but continued forward, making sure he knew where to aim when throwing the grappling hook.

At the foot of the throne, Luke set his backpack down and unzipped it, grabbing the hook and rope. Heart pounding, he positioned himself to throw and hopefully catch. Taking another deep breath and looking around just to make sure, he threw the hook and pulled. It got heavier after a few inches of pulling. Accomplishment swelled in Luke's chest. He was doing this, he was really doing this.

Luke pulled again, but the hook scraped against the metal of the chair, with the heavier weight. Luke froze, the sound of nails on the chalkboard multiplied by ten echoed through the throne room. He held his breath and counted to thirty before he decided it was okay to continue.

He thought about this: just pull it quick, like a band-aid. Still holding his breath he yanked hard and ignored the horrible sound the hook made scratching against the seat.

But it was over in a couple of seconds and the there was the bolt, falling straight toward Luke. As it got closer it changed, shrinking down to normal, human size and when it landed in Luke's waiting hands it was in a metal cylinder that was spiked on both ends. It hummed with so much energy Luke's knees almost buckled. He let out a gusty breath and quickly slipped it into the backpack, wrapping the rope in a loose ring so he could throw it over his shoulder.

As he was exiting, though, something caught his eye. He stopped and looked. There was simple guest chair; the chair that Hades sat in when he visited Mount Olympus, and there sitting in the seat was Hades's helm of darkness.

Luke's first thought was, _No, way, this was too good to be true. There has to be some kind of trick_. However, there it was, just sitting there, exactly like Zeus's master bolt. Looking at the opened door, Luke quickly jogged over to the chair. He stared at the helm for a moment before impulsively reaching out and grabbing it. He hadn't exactly planned for it, but hey, it was something extra to deliver to Kronos. _Two_ gods' symbol of power and that was sure to give Kronos strength to rise from Tartarus.

Luke quickly put the helm into his backpack as well and ran out of there, making sure to close the door on his way out. Now it was just up to him getting these two items to Kronos.

The high though, the high that Luke was feeling right now as incomprehensible. As he ran through the empty streets of Mount Olympus, adrenaline pumping through his veins, he felt great. The best he'd ever felt in a long time. He'd just stolen two items of power! And no one had noticed him! It was an amazing feeling. This was the feeling he should've had after completing a quest from his father that _wasn't_ stealing a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides.

It was intoxicating.

Of course, there was always that thought that they'd realize that someone had stolen their items and that would surely be the end of Luke, so he had to get off the mountain quickly. Which was surprisingly easier than Luke thought it would be. Probably about as easy as stealing the items in the first place. All he had to do was ride the elevator down and exit the building. Then it was hailing a taxi and that was that. He was out of New York and was about half-way through New Jersey before he heard thunder cracking in the distance.

Luke knew exactly what that meant: they had finally noticed his theft. He couldn't stifle his eye roll. It had taken them that long to realize? He just couldn't believe how arrogant and cocky that they were. They never thought anyone would dare to steal their items of power?

As of now, Luke was headed down a deserted stretch of road. The cab driver had been a little reluctant, and had a right to be, but when Luke offered him enough mortal crash he finally agreed to drive him.

The high he'd had on Mount Olympus still hadn't faded. Adrenaline just kept pumping through his veins, invigorating him, making him feel invincible; on top of the world. He wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline or if it was his "ADHD"—the fighting instincts that kept him alive—but as they drove Luke saw a bright flash of blinding white light and had just enough time to open the door and jump out, hitting the asphalt and rolling near the middle of the road just as the cab blew up in a show of flames and rolled to a stop several yards away.

Luke went to reach for his sword, but it was gone and suddenly he was being yanked to his feet by the backpack which was swiftly taken from him as well. Luke quickly turned, his heart hammering, his breath ragged, to come face to face with the war god, Ares.

He was dressed in a red muscle shirt, black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. Red wraparound shades covering his eyes. His jaw was set in a permanent expression of something that looked between a sneer and a scowl, his black hair cropped short and his cheeks scarred and rough.

As Luke glared up at the war god, feelings of resentment and anger and hatred bubbled up inside him before intensifying by a hundred. That was what he got for being overconfident just like the gods. Why didn't he just get these to Kronos like originally ordered?

Ares opened the backpack and peeked inside.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here." he mocked. "So you're the thief, huh?" Luke felt Ares eyes zero in on him as if sizing him up. He wanted to speak, to have some sort of comeback but Ares started to talk again. "I oughta take these back and have you burned alive, you little punk."

"Then why haven't you already?" Luke jeered, not meaning to have said that. Ares smiled wickedly.

_You incompetent fool!_ A cold voice blew through his head, making him shudder and grimace. _Listen to me and do exactly as I say._ He ordered.

Luke composed himself and stared up at the war god trying not to flinch when he met those red wraparounds, feeling Ares's eyes burn a hole straight through his skull. "I mean, there must be some reason you haven't transported—or whatever it is you do—back to Olympus. Just admit it you're tempted to keep the items of power to yourself."

Ares raised his sword, holding the tip to Luke's neck. "What gives you any right to say that, you little maggot." he snarled, flames licking the rim of his sunglasses.

It was Luke's turn to smile. "How about this, Ares, you let me go and hide the items—"

The sword dug deeper into Luke's neck, the fire behind Ares's glasses blazed. "What makes you think I'll take orders from a little punk like you?"

"You hide the items away and let a battle break out between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades?" Luke finished. The pressure lessened and the blaze died down a bit. Luke's smile grew wider, knowing he'd gotten Ares right where he wanted. Nodding he continued. "Nothing's better than watching brothers duel it out, huh?"

Luke stopped then, waiting. After a few silent moment, the only sound the crackling fire that used to be the cab and the cab driver. Then, Ares slowly lowered his sword. He was looking at Luke with a new kind of expression… impressed, maybe? Then a wicked grin spread across his face.

"Nothing's better than a family feud. All right, kid, I'll hold the items." Luke blinked and Ares was gone and Luke was sitting inside a repaired cab with a repaired cabbie and was headed in the opposite direction he was going, back to New York, back to Mount Olympus.

What shocked and baffled Luke the most was that he managed to sneak back onto Olympus and into the building without being noticed or looking suspicious.

It hadn't gone quite according to plan but it'd worked out in the end. Kronos had to already be re-evaluating what he was going to do, but it wouldn't be hard for him. He was a powerful titan and Luke was sure that he'd find a way to rise. This was only a minor setback. Luke would still have his revenge and so would Kronos.

* * *

><p>Luke bolted upright in his bed, drenched in cold sweat, his chest heaving. The Hermes cabin, with its usual crowded quarters, was gloomy and silent. In the window light filtered through, the sun just peeking over the horizon.<p>

_Fail me again, young godling…._

Luke gritted his teeth and tried to calm his breathing, balling his hands into fists so tight his knuckles turned white to keep them from shaking.

_I will not fail again, master, _he thought. He wouldn't. Not with nightmares like these. They were pretty motivating. He only wondered just how long this punishment was going to last.

They'd come back to Camp Half-Blood a couple of days ago and they still hadn't stopped. Luke could barely concentrate during the day and at night didn't want to go to sleep in fear that he'd have another nightmare. Sleep deprivation was really wearing him down. He wanted to just yell at Kronos that he'd learned his lesson, he _would not_ fail him ever again, but that wasn't going to win him any points. He just had to keep his trap shut and push through it.

With a sigh, Luke lay back down and closed his eyes, too exhausted to try and stay awake until the rest of the camp woke up. Yet another dream came to him, but it wasn't a nightmare, it was a debriefing.

Luke stood in the barren cave, now used to the pressing darkness; now used to standing on the edge of the cliff leading into the deepest, blackest part of the world; now used to Kronos's cold, scraping voice… at least when he wasn't angry. He stood there and waited for Kronos to speak.

_A new hero shall come to camp soon,_ he informed. _He is gullible, naïve, easily manipulated. He will come and take the items of power from Ares and down to me._

_What would you like me to do?_ Luke asked, just grateful this wasn't going to be another nightmare.

_Continue on with your normal routines at camp, but make friends with this boy. Make sure he trusts you._ Kronos ordered. _I will give you more orders when he arrives._

With that being said, Luke woke up back in the Hermes cabin. It was brighter outside now, the sun being fully up, and people inside were stirring. Luke sat up, rubbed his bleary eyes and gave himself a pep talk to get through today. All he had to do was wait for this boy to show up, which he hoped wouldn't be long. Luke had been waiting for five years, if that, and it was about time he started taking action.

Luke did as he told, going through the motions of his daily routine. Days passed and this boy still hadn't shown up. However, talk about Luke's theft was all over camp. Naturally it would be; it was hard to ignore the thundering storms without lightning and the kids that were on Mount Olympus that night would obviously talk about it. It was slightly frustrating that Luke couldn't take any credit, because it was a big feat (even though it was much easier than he thought it would be), but he knew that'd get him nowhere fast. The fact that this promised he would see the gods fall kept him quiet.

He acted the part as well, knowing that he had to act just as clueless about who could've possibly stolen Zeus's master bolt or people might get suspicious. As campers arrived for the summer term, they were immediately informed of what was happening and that was all the talk at camp nowadays. No one had anything better to talk about and nothing was more interesting than this. Nothing like this had happened in the history of the gods.

Then, one stormy night—talk about cliché—he finally arrived. Outside the wind howled, rain poured down around the valley, but not a spot hitting the grass of the camp, thanks the magic borders. And as this young, twelve-year-old hero battled the Minotaur, whilst desperately trying to keep Grover and his mother safe, just outside the borders of camp, Kronos was informing Luke more about this hero… supposedly son of Poseidon.

This was good though, it would be easier to frame a son of Poseidon, because of sibling rivalry. It was perfect and was finally going according to plan.

Three days and about a hundred different rumors about this hero later and Luke was waiting for Percy—that was his name, Percy Jackson—to join him, his siblings, and the rest of the undetermined half-bloods in the Hermes cabin. He sat on his bunk, his leg bouncing in anticipation and impatience. When he felt like he couldn't sit anymore he started pacing, stepping over sleeping bags, brushing past the other demigods in the cabin, and ducking when things flew in his direction.

Then, the door opened. Luke turned and looked. Chiron stood a few feet behind Annabeth and the new kid. A short, lanky boy with jet-black hair, sea green eyes and a slight tan; he looked the same age as Annabeth, twelve.

The kids in the cabin, including Luke, bowed respectfully before Chiron, who murmured something to the pair and galloped off. Percy turned toward the door and peered inside. The campers in the cabin were now looking at him, appraising him, some with narrowed eyes. Luke waited patiently, camouflaged by all the other half-bloods in the cabin.

"Well?" Luke heard Annabeth mutter. "Go on." she prompted.

People inside snickered as he tripped on the lip of the door walking in, his face turning tomato red. Luke stood keeping a serious face; his arms crossed waiting for just the right time to greet him. Annabeth stepped in next to Percy and announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" someone called to Luke's left.

Percy looked around, not knowing what to say, but Annabeth covered him. "Undetermined." she confirmed.

Luke narrowed his eyes as everyone groaned. He wouldn't be undetermined for very long, though. Putting on his façade and getting into character, replacing his narrowed eyes for a welcoming smile he stepped forward to greet the hero that would deliver Zeus's master bolt to Kronos.

Show time.

_No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley_

**All right, there's the end to this story. I hope you enjoyed, even though it was probably really confusing…. I'll try to get the next story to you tomorrow or sometime next week. (I don't have a title for you, though, sorry.) Stay tuned!**

**thank-you-for-everything**

**~ See you at Camp Half-Blood!**


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